Oh my, what a wealth of recently published, or soon to be, books!

We all know about Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, of course.  That one goes without saying.

But there's also 1776, by David McCullough.  America's revolutionary history is one of the most fascinating in the world, ISTM.

On the mystery front there's a new Gregor Demarkian out, The Headmaster's Wife, and a new Claire Malloy book by Joan Hess, The Goodbye Body.  One that came out last fall but I've yet to read is A Midsummer Night's Scream
by Jill Churchill . . . it's in the library, though, so I shan't have
to buy it.  The others aren't, however.  Dang.  A title
not due out till August is a new Constable Evan Evans book by Rhys
Bowen, Evan Blessed. 
That's good . . . Bowen's been writing a second series, and I'm rarely
as fond of an author's second series.  Joan Hess (who writes both
the Maggody and Claire Malloy books) is the only one that's managed the
feat since Agatha Christie's death.  Another book set across the
pond that recently was published but hasn't yet come my way is Death of a Bore, a Hamish MacBeth mystery by M. C. Beaton.

Riches galore!  

This was good to read:  Zogby
Poll: Americans Not in Favor of Starving Terri Schiavo

It's amazing, the difference it makes when poll questions are framed
properly.  Considering the mainstream news polls showing a
majority of Americans apparently in favor of the deliberate
starvation/dehydration death of Terri S., I was afraid the nation had
lost its collective mind, not to mention heart.

The only decent thing about
switching to Daylight Savings Time is at least it's easy to set the
clocks one hour ahead, unlike the chore in October, when most of my
clocks demand I stand and go through 23 hours to fall back.

This must be cold comfort to people like Kirstin and Elaine and  Laura, who have
toddlers and infants who don't know diddly about clocks and DST. 
Glory, what a misery that used to be, trying to get my little ones'
internal eating and sleeping clocks to jibe with the rest of us again.

Ugh.  That's what I say.  UGH. 

I had a little more trouble with the neck, but it's not too bad; 
here's the "yellow rose" kimono, again just needing the snaps sewn on
(I'll do that tomorrow):

Alex is officially a Petty Officer in the Navy! 

And he graduates on Tuesday from the band school.  Sadly, there
won't be anyone there besides Beth to see him, as her mother comes back
to Texas this weekend, and Don and I and Beth's father don't go out
till Saturday. 

That's the way it goes, I suppose.  And he hasn't received his
orders yet, though surely they'll arrive before he graduates. 
Surely?

[fretfully]  I thought those sleeves looked longer than I recalled kimono sleeves being.

Stupid dual lengths. 

Turns out I made the sleeves for the dress, not the kimono. 

Oh well!  Live and learn.  Caught the mistake as I began
working on the second kimono.  And Cindy, I zigzagged the hems of
the sleeves first.  They look quite nice, and it'll be much faster
not having to hand-stitch them at the end. 

What do squirrels and teenagers have in common?

An apparent death wish, made manifest by their tendency to walk (or scamper, in the case of squirrels....never saw a teenager "scamper" in my life) straight into the drive path of automobiles.

Taking Charles to school is guaranteed to wake me up good and proper,
considering the state of alertness required to avoid smacking into
various students who seem to think they're in Rome, and either simply
step off into the traffic, serenely confidant it will stop for them, or
else walk right down the middle of the street or parking lot aisle (is
there an appropriate term for the drive paths in a parking lot?),
ignoring the cars behind them.

Thus demonstrating the innate superiority of squirrels, as I've never seen one do that.